1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for communicating information over a network and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for communicating information generated by a software application from one computer to another computer over a network.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the growth in computer based activities, there has been a concomitant growth in the sophistication and diversity of application software offering solutions to virtually all business and personal needs. Within a given application environment, a software user may select, depending on his/her needs or preferences, from among a large number of competing software products offering similar or differing levels of sophistication from the relatively simplistic and low cost application offering limited functionality to high-end software systems offering a wide range of functionality accompanied by high costs and user expertise in operating the software. One notable feature of commercial application software is the lack of data compatibility between competing application software or the need for obtaining additional software in order to use data communicated from application software residing on other computers. Incompatibility between application software prevents users from readily communicating data. Compatibility problems also exist between subsequent versions of the same application software (i.e., software is usually forward compatible but rarely backwards compatible). The cause for this incompatibility between application software is believed to be rooted in the need to provide incentives for users to continuously update their software, to purchase the same brand of software or the desire to not disclose proprietary file formats to competitors. Thus, from the perspective of the software manufacturer, there is simply no desire to provide complete compatibility with competing software. At best, only a portion of the data can be imported seamlessly into other software applications. Although application software will sometimes provide a user with a standard data type for importing or exporting data to competing application software (or earlier software versions), the export/import procedure is burdensome on the user, especially where the user only has a limited use for the data, the data is frequently being updated or the user is pressured by the demands of extracting or using the data a timely manner. Moreover, this imported/exported data is usually functionally limited or incomplete. The result is that the data cannot be communicated in an effective manner between users unless each user purchases the same application software as well as the same version of the software application. This drawback in today""s application software creates a significant barrier to the flow of digital information.
The above limitations in application software have become more evident in recent years with the increased demand for communicating information over computer networks and in particular, the increased demand for communicating data that is far more complex than, for example, electronic mail messages or the standard data formats supported by network browsers. In today""s business environment, computer networks (e.g., the Internet) offer significant advantages in speed, convenience, cost savings, and drastically expanded communication networks for delivering information. However, the potential for delivering information over computer networks will not be fully realized so long as there remains the central problem of data compatibility between software applications. A network exchange of data that requires each user to share the same proprietary software, or purchase additional software, may be advantageous to the software manufacturer, but it serves only to frustrate those who wish to take advantage of communicating over computer networks.
One example of where application software incompatibility between sender and recipient has presented significant obstacles to network communications is in the context of communicating information contained in Computer Aided Design (CAD) or Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) files to/from the designer/engineer to other designers/engineers or manufacturing suppliers utilizing different computers/software.
In the later case, for example, a designer may wish to solicit, from a pool of suppliers, a quote for manufacturing a part described in the designer""s CAD/CAM file. Without the compatible CAD/CAM software, a prospective supplier cannot inspect the design requirements. Moreover, since the supplier only has a limited use for the data (e.g., to review the shape, dimensions, material requirements and annotations) and only needs to view the data for the purposes of providing a quote to the designer, the supplier has no desire for investing the thousands of dollars necessary for purchasing and/or upgrading a plurality of CAD/CAM software applications containing superfluous software functionality (e.g., design capabilities) in order to respond to a request.
The above example highlights similar obstacles facing businesses that require exchanges of data across different disciplines. The demand is xe2x80x9cgive me accessxe2x80x9d to your information, whether it be from manufacturing, marketing and communications, publications, sales, or QA personnel, to name a few. The information is needed in a timely manner without the need for procuring specialized application software. Having to negotiate through software compatibility or procurement problems does little to optimize business operations, especially in the face of ever shrinking lead times, product life cycles, budgets and cost targets. These concerns are magnified with the requirement for higher quality for increasingly more complex and sophisticated products. Moreover, the obstacles presented by software incompatibility are not just limited to the frequent business contacts or between intra-business personnel. The trend towards creating a global network of business contacts for outsourcing jobs (e.g., as in the CAD/CAM example above), responding to business requests for proposals, or simply providing business products has created a present and growing need for delivering complex information to virtually anywhere in the world without operating under the restraint of software compatibility.
One approach to communicating information over networks is provided by the well known Adobe Acrobat Reader(trademark) (Adobe). This software may be downloaded for free over the Internet and allows a user with a basic networked computer platform (e.g., storage medium, operating system, Internet connection and browser software) to view text or graphical data that has been converted to a Portable Document Format (PDF). Although Adobe(trademark) provides the user with the ability to view and print textual or graphical images of almost any level of sophistication received over the Internet, the sender of information must still purchase or otherwise procure the software for storing the data in a PDF file format, convert the data into a PDF and then transmit this converted data to the recipient, then the recipient of the converted data will need to separately procure and load the viewer software. Additionally, Adobe(trademark) is limited to data which are essentially printable documents stored in an electronic form. Adobe(trademark) does not provide the sender/recipient with a medium of exchange for communicating electronic models or other types of complex data that require the user to interrogate the data to select a desired view or access a particular portion of the data which is not stored in a document-type format.
As a result of the foregoing drawbacks and limitations in application software compatibility and the delivery of information in a timely and efficient manner to meet the needs for communicating information over networks, there exists a need for providing a data delivery system adapted for transmitting information over a network in a secure, reliable and efficient manner and which does not require the sender of such information to be concerned with whether the recipient""s computer provides the software support for using the data. In particular, the existing network delivery systems and application software do not address the need for communicating sophisticated information over a network without the separate procurement of software or multiple software packages and without requiring sender/recipient to engage in intermediate data conversion procedures (e.g., data import/export, translation, compression, encryption).
The invention satisfies these needs while avoiding the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a network delivery of electronic data for communicating information from a sender to an intended recipient without requiring the sender or recipient to separately procure software for enabling the viewing, reading, interrogating, etc., of the data delivered over the network. The delivery system allows senders to communicate information stored in a source file without being limited to only those recipients who have access to the software that provides the recipient with the ability to view, read, interrogate, extract, etc., or otherwise to have access to the information contained in the source file.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for providing over a network information stored on a first computer to a second computer based on source data from a software application wherein the source data requires a compatible software application resident on the second computer. The method includes the steps of receiving the source data on the first computer, translating the source data and packaging the translated data for access by the second computer over the network wherein the packaged data does not require application software resident on the second computer in order to use the data. The method may also include the steps of protecting the translated data so as to ensure restricted access to the translated data over the network and/or to limit a recipient""s access to the translated data, storing the translated data with a data accessing portion in a self-extracting file and providing a plurality of deliverable data types depending on recipient needs and/or requirements of the sender.
In still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for communicating to a plurality of receiving computers a request for response from a solicitor over a network. In this aspect of the invention, there is provided the steps of receiving from the solicitor a registry of network addresses, receiving solicitor source data from any of a plurality of software applications, translating the solicitor source data into a translated data format, notifying the plurality of computers of the request for response based on the registry of network addresses and if the request for response is accepted, providing access to the translated solicitor data. In this aspect of the invention, the method may further include providing sophisticated information pertinent to the solicitation, e.g., a request for quote from a solicitor requiring communication of a 3D model, to all recipients, regardless of whether each recipient shares the same software or software version of the application software that stored the sophisticated information.
The advantages of the invention further include a data structure for delivery to a computer over a network (e.g., the Internet), the data structure communicating sophisticated information generated from source data from a computer wherein the source data requires a software application for access to the source data. The data structure includes a translated data portion storing the information generated from the source data and a data accessing portion for accessing the translated data, wherein the translated data and the data accessing portion enable the computer to communicate the sophisticated information stored in the source data without requiring the use of application software. In this aspect of the invention, the data structure may contain information generated from any of a plurality of application software and may also be packaged in one of a plurality of secured delivery file formats. The translated data and data accessing portions may also be delivered separately or packaged together in a self extracting file.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth or be apparent from the description that follows. The features and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the functions and methods particularly pointed out in the written description as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention.